Up periscope

CAAF has affirmed United States v. Diaz in a rather non-controversial unanimous decision. While not controversial in my mind, it is worth reading the discussion of Diaz’s attempt to plead guilty by exceptions and substitutions. I’d always thought there was quite a bit of leeway on pleading guilty by E&S, but the CAAF sees otherwise. In my view CAAF got it wrong, but the defense could have done better with the language it offered as a substitute for the charged language. Obviously the accused was trying to minimize the seriousness of the offense. But to me that doesn’t mean he was not provident to a 133 offense. There was nothing preventing the prosecution offering evidence of what was done under R.C.M. 1001. And, for that matter, nothing prohibited the military judge taking into account the prosecutions sentencing evidence and the accused’s providence enquiry as showing a lack of complete remorse or willingness to accept his responsibility.

ABC7 reports that:

A local airman is about to face a court martial, even though the Air Force knows it was a medical condition that caused what was called a dereliction of duty–falling asleep on the job.

There is one comment to the story, which is here because of its potential relevance.

Sorry but sleep apnea does not cause you to suddenly fall asleep, that would be narcolepsy, sleep apnea is when you go to sleep and stop breathing, most common symtom is snoring. If your going to use a sleep disorder for your falling asleep on duty at least use the right one!!!!

Violating the U.S. military’s rules of engagement in Afghanistan could guarantee a soldier a court martial, according to sources, even though there are significant concerns the rules actually hinder the ability of soldiers to protect themselves in the heat of combat with the Taliban, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

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This site is for the trial practitioner (the military lawyer) of military justice, and for the information of U.S. active duty, Guard, and reserve service-members, their spouses and their families. Our goal is to focus on trial practice issues in cases arising under the UCMJ and being tried at court martial. We hasten to add that nothing on this blog should be taken as specific legal advice for a specific client.